Doubledick was never again seen in Polkerran, nor was anything directly heard of him by his former associates. The inn lost all its customers, who transferred their favours to the Three Jolly Mariners. In three months, Mrs. Doubledick was on the brink of ruin, and one day she mounted the carrier’s cart, with a few bundles, and departed, no one knew whither. Some few years afterwards, the landlord of a low public-house in the precinct of Whitefriars, London—a haunt of thieves, coiners, and other bad characters—was discovered in an alley behind the house, dead, with a bullet-wound in his temple. He went by the name of Brown, and was believed to be a West-countryman. It was rumoured that his murderer was one of a gang whom he had betrayed to the police. No one came forward to claim relationship with him, and he was buried by the parish. For many years rare visitors to the village wondered at a dilapidated building that stood near the jetty, its windows broken, its door blistered by the sun, the fragment of a signboard creaking on a rusty pole whenever the wind blew in from the sea—a mournful symbol of neglect and decay. If any stranger was curious enough to inquire into the history of this unpicturesque ruin, he would always find a small boy ready to conduct him to the house of one of the Tonkins, who related, with the exactitude of personal knowledge, the lamentable story of Doubledick the informer. BRADBURY, AGNEW, & CO. LD., PRINTERS, LONDON AND TONBRIDGE. * * * * * * * * STORIES BY HERBERT STRANG UNIFORM WITH THIS VOLUME "The best of living writers for boys."—_Manchester Guardian_. "The majority of writers of boys’ books are content to provide their young friends with mere reading. Herbert Strang offers them literature."—_Glasgow Herald_. HUMPHREY BOLD: His Chances and Mischances by Land and Sea. A Story of the Time of Benbow "Mr. Strang’s work is astonishingly vivid and alive, and he imparts his varied and wide knowledge with the easy mastery of an artist."—_Publishers’ Circular_. ROB THE RANGER: a Story of the Fight for Canada. "A stirring story of the Fight for Canada, bringing into relief the romantic side of the great struggle, and showing the author’s keen observation, rapid and lucid narration, and clever construction at their best."—_Educational Times_. ONE OF CLIVE’S HEROES: a Story of the Fight for India. "An absorbing story ... The narrative not only thrills, but also weaves skilfully out of fact and fiction a clear impression of our fierce struggle for India."—_Athenæum_. PALM TREE ISLAND: a Story of the South Seas. "For desperate daring and resourceful ingenuity Harry Brent and Billy Bobbin will be hard to beat, and many will be the boy who finds this story of their trip to the South Seas full of fascination and interest."—_Army and Navy Gazette_.